Articles of the day

Great article about chemistry from Jason Quick here. Apparently he is doing a larger article in the paper tomorrow, if so I will post that later.

Also a neat column here by John Canzano. Really the most striking thing to me is that Oden's agents caught this, I am assuming they mean Mike Conley Sr. needless to say stand up move for Greg to learn that it really wasn't a great idea, hell, if the kid was an ego maniacal basketball player a-la Z-Bo, he woulda just said "fuck you" and gone anyways. Stand up move Greg, stand up move.

Boy was I wrong!

Clang! This was the sound on the Trail Blazers side of the court in the second half, even though both teams played exceedingly sloppy the Blazers just could not buy a shot. The game started off well, except for the amount of foul calls, and both teams and coaches were bitching at the ref's the entire game, but Roy was hitting his shots, Channing Frye was playing pretty well off the bench, I thought things would be okay.

But then the second half came and the Blazers just fell apart, one thing of note that I thought of was right before tipoff (which they didn't even show the actual tipoff, huh?) was a piece with Blazers assistant coach Monty Williams in which he said that they had told the Blazers to run as much as they could. Well in the second half they did that but it was so sloppy, so many times Houston would turn it over, the Blazers would run and then.... (hold your breath) turn it over.

That to me was the deciding factor of this game, horrible transition offense in the second half, and they were rushing shots, making poor shot selections, just not playing typical Blazer basketball. Now we will see how they respond to this on Sunday, game at 3:00 PM against Atlanta, I will try to get a preview up later today or early tomorrow.

Great Article

J.A. Adande of ESPN has been showing some love to the Blazers of late. This is a great article. And this one too.

Beatin' the Path

Nothing we didn't know here and the NBA released their All Star game starters last night with the final tally, a couple of things I noticed here, I mean besides the major Trail Blazer snub of Brandon Roy not even showing up on the vote, (Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse got more votes, WHAAAA???) is the fact that maybe Yao Ming is a passing fad now, I mean he only got 1.7 million votes this year, and he's actually been healthy and playing.... maybe its because he didn't play for the Chinese National Team this summer or something....

Another thing that kind of irks me about the Western starters is that Denver has two of the five starters, and really the person they should have starting, Marcus Camby, was third overall for the center position, now I know this is all fan based balloting, and I voted when I could, but still no one from New Orleans, Portland, or Phoenix is starting in this game. So without further adieu, I will now give my choices for All Star starters.

Western Conference: G's Chris Paul and Brandon Roy I am sorry but these two have been SO important for the success of their teams, I have to reward them, am I biased with Roy, yes, do I care, no! As for CP3 I mean the guy is playing great and I have to reward him, sure Nash averages a couple more assists per game, but I have to look past that, and Paul is simply playing better right now, end of story.

F's Al Jefferson and Carmelo Anthony, look I hate Melo as much as the next guy, but he is having a good year and his rebounding is way up from where it was, and I know Al plays on a bad team, but he has been playing extremely good ball, I know it is controversial but I have to reward the guy!

C Tyson Chandler, I know it should probably be Camby, but Chandler has been tearing it up this season, not the greatest scorer, but a MAJOR threat on the boards and in the key with blocks, he is the perfect complement to CP3, and you know John Paxson cries himself to sleep over trading him to sign Ben Wallace.

Eastern Conference: G's Chauncy Billups and Ray Allen, look Jason Kidd isn't even trying anymore so why reward him? And Dwayne Wade is injured, playing well, but I'd rather reward Allen here, playing good TEAM ball and I think that is important.

F's Lebron James and Caron Butler, Lebron is easy, he wills his team to win and he probably has the worst supporting cast in the league, it's like they were picked up from the Island of Misfit Toys or something, so the fact that they even WIN games is all due to Lebron, as for Caron Butler, that guy is playing out of his mind 21.5 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 4.3 APG, 2.3 SPG, I mean I'm so sorry KG, but this guy is playing better right now, and I have to reward the Bulle... er Wizards.

C Dwight Howard, easiest pick of either conference, there is no doubt he is the best center in the league, this man-child is an absolute monster/beast, whatever, he is dominating and will for the next ten years, however I did read this about him today and found it pretty amusing considering he wants to put a cross in the background of the NBA logo and touts himself as a very hardcore Christian.... well whatever floats his boat.

And yeah I know, I don't have anyone from Phoenix in my starters either, well, tough, play better.

Quick Link

Thanks Jimmy, for reminding me that one, this is a blog, two, this should include more than my own work, and three, I read this article earlier and didn't even think about linking to it.... so as for David Thorpe's review of the sophomore class, look at two of the top three, hmmm.....

And considering I just did the preview on Houston at Portland, I think it might be time to mention why the hell the Rockets didn't just keep Rudy Gay and Stromile Swift, then they would have been able to at least TRY to move T-Mac, and have a frontling of Yao at center, Swift at the 4, and Gay at the 3, and if you keep T-Mac, he would be at the 2?? Tell me they wouldn't be contenders!!!!

Preview: Rockets at Blazers

Tracy McGrady, we certainly all have fond memories of him.... being injured. Well Tracy brings his hobbled knees and spasming back to the Rose Garden on Friday. Needless to say this could be a tough game for the Blazers, especially if the Rockets decide to play up to their potential for once. This was a team many predicted would be best in the west and to be our representative in the NBA finals. They finally got a decent coach (after getting rid of one) and made all the right moves in the offseason (supposedly), except of course get a point guard and turn T-Mac into a cyborg so that he could stay healthy. But Houston can still be a dangerous team at times, Portland needs to watch out for Rafer Alston on the perimeter (dude likes to shoot), and of course Yao Ming in the middle.

They are 8-2 in their last ten games, but of course, when one takes a closer look, it can be noticed that that included wins over the Knicks on two separate occasions, as well as Seattle (which, on an eleven game losing streak, Houston struggled to beat them the first game, and had to have the bionic T-Mac save them in the second game, and oh, did i mention that they played them one game after the other??? Wouldn't you think Houston could have figured out Seattle by the second game?) and then another win against those feisty T-Wolves. I know they had some decent wins as well in that stretch, San Antonio, Washington, and Orlando, but Orlando has not been playing their best ball as of late, and San Antonio has been looking somewhat crappy on the road (they played in Houston). So the Rockets have either been hot or the other teams cold, needless to say it will interesting to see how the Blazers will respond to being back in the familiar Portland air.

Projected Starting Lineups:

Portland

G Steve Blake 7.7 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 4.7 APG
G Brandon Roy 19.2 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 5.7 APG
C Joel Przybilla 5.0 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 1.17 BPG
F Martell Webster 10.7 PPG, 4 RPG, 1.5 APG
F LaMarcus Aldridge 17.3 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 1.2 BPG

Houston

G Rafer Alston 11.7 PPG, 5.3 APG, 1.3 SPG
G Tracy McGrady 22.3 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 5.1 APG
C Yao Ming 22.4 PPG, 10.7 RPG, 2.3 BPG
F Shane Battier 8.3 PPG, 5 RPG, 1.8 APG
F Chuck Hayes 3.1 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 0.6 APG

I think this will be a favorable matchup for the Blazers, typically the Rockets bench contributes, but I don't think they will contribute more than the Blazers "White Unit". However, for Portlanders this will mean the return of one of our favorite sons, Bonzi 'I-Blackout-On-The-Court' Wells, so you fans in the first few rows, be sure to bring your raincoats and plastic covers, because he will spit on you! The Blazers need to make sure that they are firing on all cylinders, Aldridge, should be able to have a good game due to the size difference between him and Hayes, but if they put Yao on him, Joel could get some easy dunks. T-Mac isn't totally healthy and might not even start this game, but we cannot overlook him as Seattle seemed to do. Trout has had a hot hand on this road trip so look to him for scoring off the bench, and I think the most interesting matchup will be Brandon Roy versus Battier, because you know they will stick Shane on Roy, but the slower Battier should fall prey to Roy's butter smooth game. All in all it should be a good matchup, but I think the Blazers will overpower Houston in this game, and should see a fairly easy victory. GO BLAZERS!!!

Let's get on some real hatin'!!!!

So far I have two fans of my blog, but hey you know what that is fine by me, we all have to start somewhere! Anyways last nights game was less than inspired for the Blazers, but I will defend them in that it was the last game of a seven-game East Coast road trip and they were T-I-R-E-D. They beat the teams that they should have, and played good close ballgames against the Celtics, Toronto, and Orlando, losing by no more than ten ,(and that coming against the team with the best record in the league) and then they just ran out of juice last night. Not to mention with the win New Orleans has the second best record in the league.... so all in all I would say it was a pretty good trip for the Blazers, and now I think we are all looking forward to this six game homestand.

I really think that this road trip says a lot about this young Blazers team, we are still in the thick of the division title race, are holding our own in a tough and even Western Conference, and to top it all off LaMarcus Aldridge had a solid game last night! But really this team has battled through this road trip and in games like the Atlanta one, you could just see how tired they were, they have been playing back-to-backs, they have played some good teams, and they just wanted to get to their home court where they are 17-3. It must be Blaze the Trail Cat........

I hate L.A.

So a little bit about this blog, this will be mainly about basketball especially the Portland Trail Blazers. Over the past few games I have watched a great deal of them with my friend Nat, and he hates LaMarcus Aldridge, hence the name I Hate L.A. (and even though it is about Aldridge, it kind of has a double meaning referring to the LA Lakers, because, well, as a Blazers fan, I also hate them). Anyways a little about my friend, he and I have been talking about, watching, and following the Blazers for about 15 years or more, we both grew up in Portland and have been friends since about the 4th grade.

We have stood by this team through thick and thin, suffered with them at their lowest lows and toughest losses, gotten psyched about them before each season, even buying into the hype about many of the players who have gone through our fair city.

And my friend Nat has always had one Blazer each season who he has hated on, I think it all really started with Derek Anderson, that guy was supposed to be some sort of 3-point specialist and a great 2 guard, well guess what, by the time we got him, he stunk. He would always woo you with his once-in-a-blue-moon stellar play and you would think, hey he's finally put it together, well after 3 or 4 seasons of this it just got old. During training camp they would always have articles about how he was ready to step up and be the leader and really make a contribution, well it never happened. Instead during his final season in Portland he kept sitting out with 'injuries' that he had conjured up, one of the greatest being his 'tooth ache' injury, in which during a Portland game in San Antonio, he was seen at a Portland area McDonald's drive through, must have been some tooth ache that all he needed to cure it was a quarter pounder with cheese and a McFlurry. Anyways, he was done in this town, and any game Nat and I would watch, Nat would boo and hiss D.A. He would call him nasty names, boo any time he got the ball, get pissed off anytime he would shoot, and on the rare times that he made it he still would hate on him. He just couldn't stand the guy, and well, frankly, neither could I.

Well that offseason, the Allan Houston rule came into effect, where teams were allowed a one time option to clear one contract off of their salary caps, effectively buying them out, for the Blazers it was Derek Anderson. End of the D.A. story right? Wrong, to further piss us off, D.A. wound up with Miami at the end of the season and won a ring as a bench cheerleader for the Heat that year, ultimately pissing me and Nat off, well that and the fact that D-Wade would get a foul call for himself if someone on Dallas farted in his general direction. (In fact for a time I went around after that finals, and if I did something to annoy someone or people, I'd just say, 'Wasn't my fault, I'm Dwayne Wade.)

Well, besides hating on Miami that season on the playoffs, Nat had to pick a new 'least' favorite Trail Blazer, enter Travis Outlaw. Outlaw is a leaper who at that time had tons of potential, but almost no brains, he had a beautiful looking running jump shot, but he ruined it by taking it at the worst time possible, and when McMillan came in as the new coach Trout was having a lot of trouble learning the new system. So basically natural raw talent with a horrible basketball IQ. However, Trout, (I love that nickname for him, especially since he loves fishing) was still extremely young, with that natural skill set, had come right out of high school and was dreadfully skinny when he first came in the league, because of this I still had high hopes for him. Nat did not, every time Outlaw would get the ball Nat would boo and hiss, yell at him to pass, get pissed at him when he took one of his famously horrible shots, and not be swayed at all when one would happen to fall, he got me to notice lots of little things, like Trout didn't play defense, didn't rebound particularly well, never passed and always shot the ball. Two, three defenders surrounding him, he didn't care he never passed, unless he was inbounding the ball. Nat hated Trout so much that this past summer, as a restricted free agent, Nat did not want the team to sign him, well they did Travis signed a 3 year, 12 million dollar contract, which in NBA standards was fairly modest. Well Nat was pissed, until the season started, Trout has been clutch in the fourth quarter, makes a lot better shot selection, passes more, blocks shots, gets rebounds, has completely changed as a player, enough so that Nat is happy with Trout now and sees him as a great bench players for the Blazers down the road. Finally, I thought, Nat's chilled out a bit on the Negative Nancy routine.

That is until I started to notice the early grumblings towards LaMarcus Aldridge, #12, sophomore year for the highly touted power forward, the player that led the Blazers to believe it was finally time to get rid of the much maligned Zach Randolph. It all started about his rebounding, Nat kept saying Aldridge wasn't a very good rebounder, well this developed to his jump shot, especially around the baseline, where Nat has pointed out that he has done particularly poorly, and the fact that LA has no post game, he is soft, he doesn't play good defense, and most of all he couldn't stand the smug smile he has seen on LA's face when he was playing poorly, completely convinced that LA is developing an enormous ego about himself. At first, I just kept saying, 'Chill out Nat, he's young.' And Nat is right about a lot of things regarding LA but he is in his second season, first as a starter, defenses key up on him more than they used to, less open looks, better defense on him in the post, so there is a lot of potential there. And while Nat realizes that in a couple of years LA will more than likely be a great complement on this Blazer team, he has chosen to hate on him. At first I was like alright whatever, but over the past few games, his hatred has reached such a crescendo that I told Nat I was going to start a blog called I Hate L.A. and that I was going to tell his story, we were kind of joking, but I was also kind of serious about it, so this is the start to I Hate L.A. So for every boo, hiss, and negative comment about LaMarcus Aldridge, just know that I am not a stat cruncher (although my friend's resounding crescendo has reached its zenith over LaMarcus' worst stretch of the season shooting wise) but if anyone would like to add comments regarding stats I would welcome them and anyone who is a Trail Blazers fan, please feel free to come and browse and see what I have cooking up here!